0

WHAT ARE THE NINE CRITICAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS?

WHAT ARE THE NINE CRITICAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS?

Pyramid USA Consultant, Jaime Wedel, MEd, CAGS, BCBA, describes the essential communication skills every learner needs in their repertoire.

As we’ve worked with learners of all ages and abilities from around the world, we’ve seen that people who have certain communication skills tend to be happier, and more independent. When our learners display certain Contextually Inappropriate Behavior, often the problem is rooted in a deficit in one or more basic communication skills.

Our founders, Andy Bondy, PhD and Lori Frost, MS, CCC-SLP, termed these essential skills the Nine Critical Communication Skills. At Pyramid, we assess the status of these skills for all learners we are working with and update this list at least every six months as we prioritize the skills we teach. We see the skills as being universal, whether the learner is a PECS user, a speaker, a Speech-Generating Device (SGD) user, or a Sign Language user, and we teach the skills in the modality that is the best fit for an individual learner.

We also stress that we want our learners to INITIATE many of these skills! By the time we say, “Do you need help?”, “Do you want…?”, “Do you need a break?” or similar, we are already seeing a problem and know the answer! It is life-changing for our learners when they don’t need to hope we notice and respond appropriately to their distress, but instead can advocate for themselves! To this end, we use strategies such as Two-Person-Prompting to teach initiation skills.

We group the skills into Speaker Skills (Expressive-PECS user, talker, SGD user, ASL user, etc.) and listener skills (Receptive skills).

THE SPEAKER SKILLS:

  • Request Reinforcers: Asking for things the learner needs or wants. For example, a student may communicate with words/pictures/signs for a trampoline, a cracker, a hug, or a favorite electronic device.
  • Request Assistance: Everyone should be able to ask for Help! We want it to be very easy to ask for help, even in moments when an individual may be frustrated and not able to access all of their best skills. To this end, we may use a very distinct picture, such as our Help Card, for certain learners.
  • Indicate “No”: Often we see learners engaging in Contextually Inappropriate Behaviors because they don’t have the skill to communicate, “No, I don’t want…”
  • Indicate “Yes”: Similarly, we want our learners to have skills beyond grabbing or grumbling when they need to tell us they do want an item or an activity.
  • Request Break: We see break as an escape from a difficult situation, NOT asking for sensory items (see Requesting Reinforcers, above). Part of requesting a break involves knowing how many breaks you can ask for, how long breaks last, and how to come back from a break. We might use break cards to show a learner how many breaks they have available.

THE LISTENER SKILLS:

  • Respond to “Wait”: Many of our students don’t at first understand the difference between, “Wait” and “No.” We need to teach this, and in the beginning, a Wait Card may help. We also need to teach waiting for longer periods over time, and what to do while you are waiting.
  • Follow Functional Directions: Our learners are much safer in the world if they can follow especially high-priority directions such as “Stop” “Come here” “Give it to me”, etc. Again, for some learners, using visuals often is helpful with these lessons in the beginning.
  • Transition Between Activities: We all need to be able to do this, and especially to transition between activities we like, to those we don’t like as much.
  • Follow a Schedule: Everyone should have a schedule! We teach how to understand the individual pictures on a schedule (how is math different than recess?) and how to use the whole schedule to know what to do right now. We also help learners progress from perhaps a simple picture schedule on the wall, to a portable schedule, a checklist, and even a multi-day calendar. We can also use schedules to help us plan what items we may need for certain activities on our schedule, for example, getting cleaning supplies when it is time for that task.

We have found that teaching learners with complex communication needs these 9 critical communication skills leads to greater independence in the home, work, school, and community settings. We must work to not only identify which of these skills our learners need but also be able to use specific prompting and error correction strategies to teach them effectively.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON IDENTIFYING, PRIORITIZING, AND TEACHING THESE SKILLS:

Written by Jaime Wedel, MEd, CAGS, BCBA

© Pyramid Educational Consultants, LLC. 2023